XBOX Manager: managing consoles and groups

• Adding consoles
• Console details
• Console groups
• Hiding and showing the console list
• Console list shortcut menus
• Setting a default console
• Importing and exporting console and group data
• Removing all consoles and groups
• Removing all consoles in a group
• Troubleshooting XBOX Manager connectivity

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Adding consoles

XBOX Manager maintains a list of the consoles you work with so that you can quickly choose one from the Console Selector. You can hide or show the list by using the Show/Hide button.

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To add a console

1. Open XBOX Manager GDK from the Start menu shortcut that was created by the Microsoft Game Development Kit (GDK) setup.
2. Select the Add Console icon as shown in the following screenshot.

1. Enter the IPv4 address or host name of the console that you want to add.
2. Enter the access key for the console, if it’s configured with one, and then select Add as shown in the following screenshot.

[!NOTE] Your development PC and your console must be on the same subnet for host name connectivity to work.

1. The IP address of the console that was added to the Console Selector list appears after a slight delay. Select the address of the console to view or operate on the console as shown in the following screenshot.

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Console details

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Console groups

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Adding consoles to console groups

• Select the Edit group icon, and then select individual consoles from the list that appears as shown in the following screenshot.

• Select Network Consoles, and then select local consoles from the list that appears. Multiselect is enabled on the list so that you can add several consoles to a group at a time without selecting Network Consoles multiple times.

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Group details

• View and copy console details.
• See progress information and errors. For example, track the progress of application installations and console OS updates for all consoles in a group in one central location.
• Double-click a console to go to the Applications tab of that console.

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Guidance on the size of groups

• It’s better to deploy a game to 32 consoles from two different PCs than from a single PC. In that case, set up two groups with each containing 16 consoles rather than a single group containing 32 consoles.
• Groups with up to 16 consoles have been successfully tested recovering and deploying. This includes running recovery against a group with 16 consoles in it, and then push-deploying a 40 GB game to a group with 16 consoles in it.

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Use local assets

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Deploying packaged games from a web server scales best

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Hiding and showing the console list

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Console list shortcut menus

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Setting a default console

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To set the default console

1. Find the console that want to specify as the default in the console list.
2. Right-click the console to show the shortcut menu for the console.
3. Select Set as Default Console in the shortcut menu.
4. The console appears with an asterisk next to the console name in the list. This console is used by default with apps such as command-line tools, Visual Studio, and PIX.

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Importing and exporting console and group data

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To export console and group data

1. Select Import/Export.
2. Select Export. These selections are shown in the following screenshot.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ConsoleCollection xmlns:xsd="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" Version="1">
  <Consoles>
    <Console Address="10.120.195.186" />
    <Console Address="10.137.125.26" />
  </Consoles>
  <Groups>
    <Group Name="MyGroup">
      <ConsoleReferences>
        <ConsoleReference Address="10.120.195.186" />
        <ConsoleReference Address="10.137.125.26" />
      </ConsoleReferences>
    </Group>
  </Groups>
</ConsoleCollection>  

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To import console and group data

1. Select Import/Export.
2. Choose the .xml file that you previously exported in the Specify the file to import field.
3. Select Import.

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Remove all consoles and groups

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To remove all consoles and groups

1. Open XBOX Manager GDK from the Start menu shortcut that was created by the GDK setup.
2. Select the XBOX Manager Settings menu.
3. Select Remove All Consoles and Groups as shown in the following screenshot.

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Remove all consoles in a group

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To remove all consoles in a group

1. Open XBOX Manager GDK from the Start menu shortcut created by the GDK setup.
2. Right-click the custom group.
3. Select Remove Group in the shortcut menu that appears as shown in the following screenshot.

1. Select the Remove consoles from the XBOX Manager check box.
2. Select Yes.

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Troubleshooting XBOX Manager connectivity

• The console must be activated as a Game Devkit. GDK tools such as xbconnect and XBOX Manager cannot connect to a console that is activated as a Universal Windows App Devkit. To resolve this issue, deactivate the console as a Universal Windows App Devkit and then follow the instructions in the Activation overview for XBOX development kits.
• The console must be using a wired network connection instead of wireless. The console does not get assigned a host IP address when connected via a wireless network. The transport used by xbconnect and XBOX Manager cannot connect to the console in these conditions.
• The ability to get IP addresses is sometimes controlled by an allow list of MAC addresses. The host IP address and system IP address come from different MAC address on the console. If your studio has an allow list, make sure that the host MAC address is also added to the allow list. You can find the network MAC addresses for a console by going to the retail Settings app, and then selecting General > Network settings > Advanced settings.
• The host IP address cannot be a static IP address. You can confirm that the console is getting assigned a dynamic host IP address by going to the retail Settings app, and then selecting System > Console info > Developer settings and confirming that the Tools IP is a valid IP address.

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See also